D.D. Trans. Sur Place

“Sur Place” is the title of the rst exhibition in Italy by the Belgian artist D.D. Trans. The name D.D. Trans is a pseudonym which Frank Tuytschaever took from a now defunct transport company. His debut was a group exhibition put together by Dirk Snauwaert in 1990 at CC Gildhof in Tielt. In 2005 he gave up being an artist but in 2014 he prepared his come-back.
“Stuff ” is the name we give today as well to everyday possessions as to illegal drugs. That can’t be a coincidence. Through the decline of craftsmanship and the ease of buying, the outlook of a lot of our “things” has acquired an almost anesthetizing naturalness. Prior to the mass fabrication of utensils there was a long, almost Darwinist period in which form and function were ne tuned by trial and error to form an ideal, practical shape. That shape determines the right ellipse of a good shoe lift, the dimen- sions and weight of a darts arrow, the colours and manoeuvrability of a y screen, the rounded edges of dice. That dug-in, silent design gives everyday objects a recognisability and simplicity that requires no further analysis.
What poetry can do with words, D.D.Trans does with domestic, garden-and kitchen utensils; with a small twist he short circuits the alliance between fabricated things and their meaning. But being simple is not identical to being simplistic. Guileless but careful he bends things, kindled by an association, a whiff of rebellion, and a subcutaneous, understated melancholy. Two DIY plastic straps form a heart. If you have used them before you know: without scissors or pliers they won’t come lose. Untying them is destroying them. The end of a bended darts arrow casts a small, hart shaped shadow – the work of an invisible cupid. Dice stick together in a xed combination: fortune is bound to strike with only sixes. Elsewhere, with a wink and the addition of one label, a bright yellow shoe lift is turned into a banana. A y screen, rolled up or atly molten on a white plane, surprisingly looks like a painting.
The work of D.D.Trans may look super cial, but it digs deeper than at rst sight appears. “Light hearted” better covers the content: roguish, playful, and non-monumental he turns objects - in the eyes of a good spectator - into a less noncommittal state. With small gestures he questions the language of things. He pulls a spring and cocks it. More than that: unpretentious but well-aimed he researches the status of a found object as artwork.
– Frederik Van Laere –

Opening Thursday, 25 January, 7 - 9 pm
 

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